If you’re a business owner or manager, you may wonder what human translation has to do with mobile apps and communication devices. If so, we have some useful information for you. Some surveys suggest that over half the people on the planet currently use a mobile phone. That adds up to about 4 ½ billion people. And a growing percentage of those people are now conducting a majority of their personal business on smartphones, including everything from communicating with friends and family to shopping for products and services. That means that some portion of that 4 ½ billion people are potential customers or clients of your business. But since we’re talking about billions of people around the world, you’ll never be able to connect with them if you don’t have adequate translation services. That’s where human translation plays such an important role in our mobile society.
Thanks to recent technological advances like message apps, we can connect with people almost anywhere on the globe in a matter of seconds. While there’s no doubt that this kind of technology has positive attributes – like crossing borders and cultural barriers to create a new level of connectedness not possible before – it also presents some challenges. One of the biggest is language. Although English is the spoken in many countries, that doesn’t mean everyone speaks it. And, of course, you can’t possibly become fluent in every language in which you wish to communicate. Machine translation apps and services provide little help. Although these programs may translate certain words and phrases, they simply can’t provide the quality of translation needed to effectively communicate with potential customers. Remember that a high quality business translation involves much more than simply converting words from one language to another; it also requires a knowledge of your industry, fluency in the target language, and some familiarity with the culture of the people with whom you want to communicate. In a business environment, poor translation is often worse than no translation at all.
Taking all this into consideration, it may not surprise you to learn that a growing number of translation companies are now offering human translation services for mobile devices. More and more companies are now turning to translation companies to not only translate large-scale projects and documents, but also short messages of 50 words or less. Of course, this requires an immediate response by the translation company. A long turnaround time would defeat the purpose, so language companies are beginning to devote a certain amount of their resources to answer the need for fast human translation services. Often, this comes in the form of live over-the-phone interpretation, which offers companies the opportunity to conduct real-time, multilingual business transactions with people in far-flung areas of the world who do not speak the same language. Imagine the benefits that this technology would present for your own company!
But before we get carried away with thinking of all the advantages that this type of service can provide your business, a word of caution: remember what we said earlier – a poor business translation is often much worse than no translation at all. Not all translation companies provide this type of on-the-spot interpretation service. The first step is to locate a reputable, experienced translation company that has a proven track record of high quality business translation and interpretation services. Once you locate a company you trust, meet with them to discuss your business needs. While there’s no doubt that mobile communication technology has opened up a whole world of potential clients and customers to countless companies around the globe, it’s still important to remember that the quality of communication means everything in business.